Devotional 12-9-18

Philippians 1:3-11

In this reading, Paul and Timothy are writing to all of the deacons and all of the Christians in the city of Philippi.

In verse 9, Paul says “ my prayer for you is that you will overflow more and more with love for others, and at the same time keep on growing in spiritual knowledge and insight, for I want you always to see clearly the difference between right and wrong, and to be inwardly clean, no one being able to criticize you from now until our Lord returns.”
As I am writing this there are two things that I am very aware of.

First, the election is next Tuesday and no matter who you are voting for, it’s a little difficult to feel inwardly or outwardly clean with all the hype we are being deluged with. One commercial after another and almost every mailing tells us what a terrible person this one is, how crooked that one is and what a horrific mistake you will make no matter which way you vote. By the time you read this it will all be decided and I hope that we all prayed before we voted and made the most informed decisions we could.

The second thing is that last week was the terrible shooting at the synagogue. What a terrible thing to happen and no way it can be understood. It was a blessing that so many of our
church and community members were together last evening to show our synagogue here that we love and respect them.

After more than 2,000 years we still need to pray for each other, to overflow with love and understanding for each other.

The good news, we’re still working at getting it right. We’re still trying. And in this season of expectation, we know there is a God who hears all of our prayers and smiles when his children still heed his words and try to get it right.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,
We are so very blessed that you listen to our prayers, send us love when we are hurting and give us joy in so many different ways to brighten our lives on dark days.
Thank you Father for your precious Son. Thank you for your unending love and thank you for the lives of those in our church and community who make it their mission to share your love everywhere they go.

In your name we pray,
Amen.

Debbie McGinnis